Theory and Practice of Piano Tuning

The new edition of the leading textbook and most comprehensive source available for both practicing piano tuners and academic researchers, on the theory and practice of piano tuning. By the former Royal National College lecturer in Piano Technology and Tuning Theory. 680 pages, with over 300 illustrations and tables.

The book covers in-depth theory and practice from elementary to advanced level. It answers common questions raised by students of piano tuning about the actual soundscapes and behaviour of piano tone that are encountered in tuning practice. It is suitable for both students and professionals of piano tuning, general readers, and academics with interdisciplinary interests in the subject.

Includes:

Why we need skilled piano tuners
Intonation and tone
The distance between theory and the art
Theory of sound
Temperament theory
Elementary "traditional" tuning and beat rate theory
What contemporary acoustics reveals
What attenuation is, and why it is so important
Beyond the 19th century model - How "beating" and "beat rates" really work
Beyond the 19th century model - How tempered intervals really behave in fine tuning
False beat phenomenon and its influence
The effects of bridge coupling
How real tone- envelopes behave in fine tuning
Inharmonicity and small piano syndrome
What octave stretching is, why, and how it works
Setting the pin - the theory behind it and how to practice it
Scale plasticity, logic, and tuning technique
Psychoacoustics and how to listen

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Piano tuning and this book

Part 1 - Background Theory

The invisible art and science
The essential ideas
Sound
Temperament Theory
"Traditional" piano tuning theory and elementary practice
The soundscape, spectrum and tone
Partial decay patterns

Part 2 - Fine Tuning Practice

Unison Tuning
Tuning the Scale
Octave tuning
Setting the Pin
Setting the pitch
Small piano syndrome
Hearing
The Kirk Experiment

Part 3 - Advanced Theory

The single piano string in one plane
The Weinreich Model
Two strings, two planes
The Trichord
Further comments on false partials
Inharmonicity

Glossary of key concepts

Select bibliography